The figures are full of detail and Tran learned the skills needed to carve such intricacies into the crayons from his years training as a dentist.

“I withdrew to pursue something more creative,” he told Instagram. “I had seen someone else’s crayon carvings years before, and they stuck in my mind. Because we’d done something similar in dental school — we carved teeth from wax — I knew I had the skills to try [it].”

Huang uses a stainless steel dentist tool known as a Hollenback carver to make his sculptures. He begins by peeling back the paper, not too much though, then carves away, adding melted crayon wax for color and to layer up any areas he needs to. Each piece can take a few hours from start to finish.

Hoang Tran (@mumblestohimself) may be 30 years old, but he still enjoys playing with crayons. He doesn’t use the waxy sticks to color inside the lines though; rather, he carves detailed, miniature portraits of pop culture icons into them. Hoang, who lives in Pittsburgh, got his training in precision work during three years of dental school before he realized it wasn’t the career for him. “I withdrew to pursue something more creative,” he says. “I had seen someone else’s crayon carvings years before, and they stuck in my mind. Because we’d done something similar in dental school — we carved teeth from wax — I knew I had the skills to try [it].” So, using a stainless steel dentist’s implement called a Hollenback carver, he now makes sculptures of everyone from Darth Vader to SpongeBob to Homer Simpson. “It turns out I really, really enjoy this work,” says Hoang, who first peels back just the right amount of paper, carves, then applies melted wax to bulk up areas and add color details. “Now that I’m selling pieces online, showing in art galleries, even doing commissions for people, I guess other people really enjoy them, too.”
Photo by @mumblestohimself

Today is the last day to vote for me in the Geekie Awards. It takes a few seconds and the link is in my profile. I wanted to end on a high notes with sharing two of my favorite characters.
Remember you can still enter my crayon giveaway in my previous post. Thanks for all the support!
#calvinandhobbes #calvin #hobbes #tiger #billwatterson #comic #comics #comicstrip #crayons #carving #art

I haven't posted in a while since I've been busy moving across the country. Here's something to show that I'm back from the dead.
#thewalkingdead #walkingdead #twd #fearthewalkingdead #walkers #walker #zombie #zombies #rickgrimes #daryldixon #crayons #carving #art

Carbonite gray
It's the last week to see this and other crayons at Redefine Art Gallery in Orlando.
#hansolo #han #starwars #bobafett #princessleia #lukeskywalker #darthvader #crayons #carving #art